Villager invents paddy harvester to solve problems

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TAMBUNAN: Seeking to resolve the problems related to paddy harvesting and also to alleviate the nagging back pains which had plagued him, especially during the paddy harvesting seasons, had prompted Julius Peter Indu to create something out of the ordinary and solved both.

“The back pains had posed a problem to me since traditional tools were used for harvesting paddy. In addition, the traditional method slowed down work a great deal and paddy grains were not collected to the maximum,” said Indu.

He broached on the idea to invent an innovative paddy harvesting machine using a grasscutting machine.

“What I earn is for my own and my family. As a farmer, there is no other job for me to make a living for in order to support the family, except to plant paddy,” he told members of the Innovation Walk who visited him at Kampung Dabata in Tambunan on Monday.

Indu said to plant paddy was easy but when it came to harvesting, it took its toll on his back.

It was at that time that the idea dawned on him to create something extraordinary.

Indu just required a piece of zinc, four feet wide by eight feet long, plus other items, costing him around RM80, including welding, to make the harvesting tool.

“The effect of the invention, which can be prepared within three hours from start to finish, was to increase the collection of paddy grains. Previously, grains used to fall off the stalks during harvesting and were wasted away,” he said.

“Therefore, I was able to create a tool which increases the grain harvest and provides me with comfort when harvesting season comes,” Indu said.

He created the tool in 2008 and has made paddy harvesting easier, faster and productive.

“When compared to the time taken by five people harvesting paddy using traditional tools and method, on a similar size of plot of land, my machine can complete the harvesting in less than an hour,” Indu proudly said.

“This is the uniqueness of my harvester. It expedites harvesting. But, the machine is only for my personal use only,” he quipped.

Indu had demonstrated the use of his creative invention to the members of the Innovation Walk led by the deputy secretary general (policy and innovation) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Datuk Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad.